


Take Me to Church

by 0bviousLeigh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: F/F, Homophobia, Religion, Smut, happy ending I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:59:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9371171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: My church offers no absolutes, she tells me, "Worship in the bedroom."





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by/lyric excerpts from Hozier's song "Take me to Church"

_My lover's got humor_  
_She's the giggle at a funeral_

 

When the teacher turns to the blackboard, Serena skates her fingers over Ruri’s bare knee. From the corner of her eye she can see Ruri shiver and she smirks.

Ruri glares at her, then lets out an ear splitting screech. “ROACH!” She leaps on her chair and points at the ground. “SOMETHING FILTHY JUST TOUCHED ME!”

A dozen girls let out screeches and leap on their chairs as well. Serena echoes them, shrieking and jumping up on Ruri’s chair. They teeter on the narrow space and Serena clings to Ruri, leaning close to whisper in her ear, “Oh, I’ll show you filthy.”

Only Ruri could get away with causing such a ruckus, only she could scream ‘roach’ and the result would be the total evacuation of the classroom while the teacher calls the janitor to get some traps laid. Maiami Prep is the least likely place to have roaches, they can’t afford the tuition and evaporate upon placing one tiny, disease ridden foot on the grounds. Serena whispers this to Ruri as they leave the room, and Ruri claps a hand over her mouth to stifle giggles.

The teacher sees Ruri bent over, hand to her mouth, and asks frantically if she’s alright. Ruri fakes a swoon and says she’s feeling weak. She drapes her arm over Serena’s shoulder and Serena props her up. The teacher gives Ruri a key to the teacher’s bathroom and tells her to go sit in the quiet and splash some water on her face, he also tells Serena to go with her in case she gets sick.

Ruri and Serena limp away, and once they get to the stairwell they take off up the stairs. They slip into the restricted area of offices and the private teacher’s bathroom. Ruri unlocks the door and Serena darts in first, looking around appreciatively. Real marble floors, water closet, pristine porcelain sinks and nickel taps. There’s even a cushioned chair, what purpose it serves Serena can only guess at.

Ruri puts the “occupied” sign on the outside of the door and bolts it. The two of them meet eyes and they burst into giggles.

“Only you,” Serena says.

Ruri blushes. “I’ve never thought of this before. Wow, if I had known…” she shakes her head. “But I guess it’s a one-time thing, I’m sure it would be weird if I was getting groped by roaches every week.” She makes a face at Serena. “Filthy things.”

Serena grins points to the chair. “What’s the bet that if we get a blacklight in here—”

Ruri claps her hands over her ears. “FILTH!” She cries.

Serena dashes to her and presses a hand over her mouth. “Hush up,” she whispers, her lips just brushing Ruri’s cheek. “Don’t want to be caught, do you?”

Ruri shudders again and heat floods her cheeks. Serena removes her hand from Ruri’s mouth and covers it with her lips instead. Ruri goes limp against her, and Serena wraps her arms around Ruri’s waist. She moves quickly, crowding Ruri against the sink. She unbuttons Ruri’s blouse and mouths down her neck. Ruri hops up on the sink and Serena slips between her thighs, pulling Ruri’s hips flush against her. When she’s gotten Ruri’s shirt undone, she kisses down her sternum and mouths at the swell of her breasts. Ruri swallows, Serena can feel it where the top of her head is pressed to Ruri’s throat.

Ruri lifts her hips and Serena pulls her panties down, tossing them into the sink. Serena sinks to her knees and hoists Ruri’s legs over her shoulders. “And I’m the filthy one,” she teases, flipping Ruri’s skirt up.

Ruri pulls out Serena’s scrunchie and anchors her fingers in Serena’s hair. “The filthiest,” she says breathlessly.

Serena presses her mouth between Ruri’s legs and curls her tongue against her clit. She can hear Ruri’s head hit the mirror behind her. They’ll have to wipe it down before they leave, but until then…

Serena pushes her tongue deeper, swallowing down her own saliva as it pools in her mouth. Ruri’s always made her mouth water, and yeah, she knows that’s weird. Contrary to what the internet told her, girls don’t taste sweet, but Ruri tastes _sinful_.

Serena wishes she could see what Ruri looks like, but Ruri’s skirt is blocking her view and she’s too busy digging her fingers into Ruri’s thighs to push it aside. But she can imagine it, Ruri with her head tossed back and her cheeks flushed, biting down on her lip to stay quiet, but those sweet little whimpers are still music to Serena’s ears. With her shirt pushed open and skirt rumpled, Serena is sure Ruri doesn’t look quite as composed as she did this morning. Serena smirks and pulls back to bite into Ruri’s thigh. Ruri squeaks. Serena sucks hard on her clit again before she dives back in, and it doesn’t take long after that for Ruri to come.

Serena sits back, desperately trying to catch her breath. She tends to forget that she needs air when she’s going down on Ruri. She licks her lips and looks Ruri over. She’s got patches of red skin blooming on her chest, and indentations from Serena’s nails in her thighs.

“Masochist,” Serena breathes.

Ruri rolls her head down to look accusingly at Serena. “Sadist.” She places one finger under Serena’s chin and with the slightest pressure, Serena is rising to her feet, her panties joining Ruri’s in the sink. Ruri slides forward on the sink and hikes one side of her skirt up to her hips.

Serena straddles Ruri’s bare thigh and grinds down. Ruri undoes Serena’s blouse and splays her fingers over Serena’s abdomen. At Serena’s whimper, she tugs gently on the barbell in Serena’s navel, then ghosts her fingers down to where Serena grinds on her thigh. Ruri wriggles her fingers under Serena’s body and presses her fingers into the heat of Serena’s sex. Serena comes apart at the gentlest press of her fingers, already wound up to the point where she could have come from any kind of touch from Ruri.

Thoroughly satisfied, they kiss for a few minutes before they set about cleaning up. Serena snatches Ruri’s panties and puts them on.

“Like we’ve never shared underwear before,” Serena says when Ruri looks at her wide eyed.

“Bras, maybe,” Ruri sputters.

Serena laughs at how scandalized she is. “I just had my mouth all up in your vag—”

“Okay, fine,” Ruri grumbles, grabbing Serena’s underwear and putting them on. She wipes down the mirror and Serena hugs her from behind, kissing the back of her neck. She feels Ruri relax, so she quickly squeezes her breasts and leaps back when Ruri yelps.

“Perv!” Ruri hisses.

“You love me,” Serena says.

Ruri meets her eyes in the mirror. “Love you more if you fix your hair.”

 

 _Every Sunday's getting more bleak_  
_A fresh poison each week_

_"We were born sick," you heard them say it_

 

Serena is an outlier at Maiami Prep. She’s an orphan, she never puts a last name on her papers because she doesn’t have one. Even her first name isn’t really her own, it was given to her by the missionary who found her on the church steps. Serena grew up in a faith-sponsored group home, and her spot in the exclusive Prep school is both a publicity stunt and a tax write off.

Serena starts every morning with breakfast, surrounded by the other five girls who live at her group home. They all attend decent schools, but Serena’s grades are the best, so she goes to the best school. The girls are bitter, they barely even look at her, never mind talk to her. Sometimes they pretend to be friendly, because they’re preached to about neighbor-ness and What Would Jesus Do.

Jesus is Serena’s only friend—at least, the plastic Jesus that hangs in the kitchen, forever in a state of torment with his eyes rolled back in his head as he hangs on the cross. Serena sits right in front of him, a cruel irony as with each spoonful of cereal she thinks about the taste of Ruri’s sex on her tongue. She meets the plastic Jesus’ tormented gaze and tries to imagine dying for someone who doesn’t believe.

Church is worse, as Serena had the misfortune to be placed in an area of town that doesn’t take kindly to homosexuals. Serena has learned to tune out the sermons as she sits in a pew with her foster sisters, done up like a doll in a dress she borrowed from Ruri months ago. It no longer smells like her, but the fabric that touches her skin once touched Ruri’s, and that thought alone is enough to get her hot and bothered. She’s glad she doesn’t have a penis, it would be a lot harder (pun absolutely intended, she thinks with a barely concealed smirk) to hide how utterly turned on she is.

Serena was baptized and confirmed, back when she was a child who believed everything she was told, and believed she’d go to hell if she didn’t devote herself to Plastic Jesus who Died For Her Sins On The Cross. So Serena goes up for communion, paper wafer dissolving on her tongue as the watered-down wine washes it down. The Pastor places his hand on her head and blesses her, and Serena does indeed feel guilty. If she didn’t go up for communion, the Pastor would interrogate her for the reasons, under the pretense of caring for her inner torment, and she would either confess her “sins” or make one up, and she’d get weekly counseling from him until she said she felt like receiving communion again. Serena knows this because she tried it once. She knows communion is sacred for those who believe, so she deceives the faithful to keep things running smoothly.

Serena looks at the Jesus statue that hangs in the Apse. This one is a Peaceful Jesus, after being risen from the tomb, he extends his injured hands and looks thoughtful and serene. Though she inspects his face every Sunday, Serena can never connect to this Jesus either.

 

 _The only heaven I'll be sent to_  
_Is when I'm alone with you_

 

Ruri used to be a foster child, her and her brother, but Shun is a gifted child and graduated college when he was eighteen. He does programming for some huge video game company, he became Ruri’s guardian and saved her from the hell of the system. Ruri doesn’t need fake faith to survive, her brother feeds her, houses her, and loves her. Good lord, Shun loves Ruri to pieces. Serena knows that Shun;s aware of their relationship, whether he knows what they get up to when they’re alone, well, Serena’s never asked Ruri if he knows.

Ruri has not only her own bedroom and bathroom, she practically has an entire floor of the house to herself. She can be as loud as she wants when Serena devours her in the privacy of her own bed.

Serena splays her fingers over Ruri’s stomach as she curls her tongue against Ruri’s slick skin. She keeps her mouth pressed between Ruri’s legs even as her body quivers from her orgasm, she doesn’t move away until Ruri pulls her away, dragging Serena up by her hair and pressing her down against the mattress.

“What’s up with you today?” Ruri asks, her stern tone outweighed by the fact that she hasn’t caught her breath yet. “You only get like this when you’re upset.”

“Like what, a fantastic lover?” Serena teases.

Ruri tucks a strand of Serena’s hair behind her ear. “So focused on making love to me that I don’t get to talk to you,” Ruri corrects.

Serena sighs and props her head up on her arm. “Y’know. The usual. I’m a sinner and all that jazz.”

Ruri’s gaze softens. “It’s not healthy for you to be in that environment. I know you pretend you’re above their words but I can tell it hurts you.”

“I don’t want Shun to adopt me,” Serena says, already used to this argument. “You guys have done enough for me, he doesn’t need to pay for the rest of my high school. I’ll be eighteen in six months and by then my senior year will have been paid for.”

Ruri leans over her and kisses her gently. “Then talk to me,” Ruri says quietly. “Even if I can’t fix the problem, I can listen. I’m sure I can find some way to help you.”

This is why Serena fell in love with Ruri. She’s so heartbreakingly honest and sincere. In everything she does, she gives her whole heart to all her endeavors. And she’s given her whole heart, head, and soul to Serena, for some unfathomable reason. But she’s wrong, she can’t help Serena. And Serena doesn’t want to burden Ruri with her problems. Ruri’s heard it all before and Serena doesn’t want to make her miserable. So she makes an empty promise and the two of them snuggle close to each other for a quick nap before they start again.

 

Serena spends Friday nights at the Kurosaki’s house under the pretense of studying. In fact, Serena doesn’t need to study. She cheats—she has a photographic memory, she has only to read something once to remember it. Understanding it can take some work, but it’s a lot easier when she can look in her own head for things like formulas, verbs, and rules. She can recite entire plays from memory, though her delivery leaves something to be desired, but Ruri doesn’t mind, and every Saturday morning, Serena entertains Ruri with recitation of various plays.

Serena recites, _“If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this…”_ she kisses Ruri, and kisses her again, and again…

“Finish the line!” Ruri giggles, shoving Serena’s shoulder.

Tangled in the sheets, legs twined together, and barely clothed is how Serena and Ruri spend their Saturday mornings. Sunlight weaves its way into Ruri’s hair and illuminates her eyes. Serena is in awe of her.

 _“Give me my sin again,”_ Serena says.

“That comes later,” Ruri says.

“Fuck Shakespeare, he rambles,” Serena says, and she pounces on Ruri and kisses her soundly.

Ruri grins into their kiss and grabs Serena’s shoulders, flipping her over and pinning her to the mattress. Serena gasps as Ruri kisses down her neck, over her breasts and stomach, tongue curling over her belly ring, before settling between her legs. Serena drapes her legs over Ruri’s back, and tangles her fingers in Ruri’s long hair. Ruri mouths sweetly over Serena’s clit and Serena whimpers, tugging at Ruri’s hair. She half wishes Ruri would bite her, rough her up, make Serena feel filthy. But Ruri would never let Serena feel anything other than treasured. It almost hurts, because in some ways, Serena feels like she’s profaned Ruri.

But those thoughts fly out of Serena’s head as Ruri tongues into Serena’s body. Serena shudders as her body contracts around Ruri’s tongue. She arches up off the bed and props herself up on one arm, her other hand still on the back of Ruri’s head. She looks down at Ruri as she works Serena open on her tongue, and Serena has to concentrate to keep her eyes on Ruri.

Ruri’s half covered by the sheet, the rest of her body concealed by the long curtain of her hair. Serena loves her hair, how long it is, how sweet it smells, all the time. Even when Serena feels like she’s a sweaty, smelly wreck, from her head to her toes, Ruri always seems to smell amazing. Sometimes Serena wakes up with her head pillowed on Ruri’s hair.

Ruri lifts her head slightly and drags one finger over the soft folds of Serena’s sex, before pushing her finger inside slowly, keeping Serena on edge. She lowers her head and pushes her tongue back in, next to her finger. Serena falls back on the bed and flings her arm back, gripping Ruri’s headboard. Ruri fucks her through her orgasm, and while Serena struggles to catch her breath, Ruri plays with the barbell in her navel.

“This is cute,” Ruri says conversationally, as if she didn’t just give Serena the best orgasm ever.

Serena glances down—she’s wearing the purple heart-shaped crystal. “Thanks,” she pants. “You gave it to me.”

“I have good taste,” Ruri says, grinning at Serena.

Serena wrinkles her nose and Ruri giggles, flopping down on Serena’s side.

After they rest for a while, they shower and get dressed so they can get some food. Shun is in the kitchen, and they end up helping him cook.

They have dinner together, and Serena is only too aware of the minutes that tick by, counting down to when she’ll have to go back to her foster home. If she’s not back tonight she won’t go to church tomorrow, she can’t bring herself to go unless she’s forced. If Serena could, she’d stay here, in this house, for the next five months until she turns eighteen. But she can’t do that. And she can’t ask Shun to take her in, not as long as she has a place to go back to.

So Serena makes the most of her time in a place that accepts her, with people who love the real her, not the fake persona she puts on for the people who house her.

 

 _Take me to church_  
_I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies_  
_I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife_

 

Serena licks blood off her lip and clutches her ribs as she limps down the block. It only hurts when she breathes. She doesn’t know for sure, but she thinks one of the other girls at the home ratted her out. Maybe she was jealous of Serena’s school, maybe she honestly didn’t know what would happen. Serena walked in the door and got slapped in the face. When they asked if it was true, if she was a lesbian, she didn’t see the point in lying.

They screamed at her, shoved her to her knees under the crucifix in the kitchen and yelled at her to repent. She refused, and they told her to get out. Serena has always kept her most important things—books, papers, and so on—in her school bag, so she ran to her room, grabbed it, and ran out of the house. Her foster mother pushed her down the front steps on her way out the door, and Serena managed to avoid head injury, but she bruised her ribs real nice.

She’s wandering, hoping that she’s going the back way to the Kurosaki’s house. She’s avoiding the main road because she knows she looks like hell. When she finally has to stop to catch her breath, she looks around, and she can’t tell if she wants to laugh or puke. She’s at a church. Not her usual one, but a church nonetheless. She collapses on the front steps, head in her hands, and tries to tell herself that it’s going to be okay. She doesn’t care what they think of her, she’s above it all, she’s going to be fine.

“Are you okay, child?”

Serena lifts her head, but the voice came from behind her. There’s a light spilling over the steps, and the shadow of someone in the open door. Serena can’t turn, her ribs hurt.

“Don’t mind me,” Serena says harshly, “I’m just a filthy sinner. A whore. A dirty lesbian,” her voice breaks and she finally starts sobbing.

Gentle hands rub her back. “Well, in this church we believe that God loves all.”

Serena lifts her head and stares at the woman next to her. The woman smiles. “Come inside, it’s cold out.”

Serena limps inside, following the young woman. The church is warm, and through the film of her tears, Serena sees a stand of tiny flags. One of them is a rainbow flag.

“That’s the gay pride flag,” she blurts.

The woman urges Serena along. “It is,” she says. “We accept all in this church, just as Jesus accepted all. Unfortunately, it seems some faithful have forgotten that Jesus cavorted with the lowest members of his own society, because he said all were equal.”

Serena sniffles. “Yeah.”

The woman guides her to an office and helps her into a chair. She sees the hand that Serena clutches to her ribs. “What happened?”

Serena gulps. “I fell.”

The woman looks at her sternly. “I accept your lifestyle, but not lies.”

Serena looks down. “I got kicked out. Literally.”

The woman leaves the room for a few minutes and comes back with a first aid kit. “You’re not the first battered person to come here at night,” the woman says. “I wish I could say you’d be the last, but there will always be those who don’t understand.” She dabs something over Serena’s split lip.

“Are you a pastor?” Serena asks.

The woman shakes her head. “A volunteer. As I said, you’re not the first. This is a crisis center as well as a church, many members of our congregation live where they aren’t safe. I did once.” She hands Serena a bottle of water. “Were they your parents?”

“Foster parents,” Serena says.

The woman frowns, and takes the first aid kit away. She’s gone for a while, and Serena slowly drinks her water. When the woman comes back, she’s not alone. There’s a middle aged man with her, and Serena knows he’s a pastor.

“Evening,” the man says. “My name is John.”

“Serena,” she answers.

John kneels in front of her, his expression gentle. His hair is thinning and he has a few wrinkles. Serena remembers what the woman told her about this being a crisis center and a congregation with at risk people. This must be a shepherd who takes the risk of wolves seriously.

“Can I ask how old you are?” John asks.

“Seventeen,” Serena says.

John nods. “My wife called the police, they’ll be here soon.”

Serena’s jaw drops. “What?!”

“As a foster child, even one in a home of faith, laws protect you.”

“I don’t want to go back there!” Serena cries.

“You won’t,” John says firmly. “But to ensure that, thing need to be done legally. Don’t worry, Yue is a social worker, she can help you.”

Serena looks over John’s head at the woman who she assumes to be Yue, and John’s wife. She realizes that Yue has a scar across her nose.

“What have I gotten myself into?” Serena asks.

“It’s going to be okay,” Yue says. “You’re not alone anymore.”

 

 _I was born sick_  
_But I love it_

 

Apparently there’s a little known law about providing shelter to at-risk youth. Shun isn’t a foster parent, but when Serena produces photographic evidence of the time she spends with him (pictures taken by Ruri when Serena and Shun weren’t looking), child services put his certification on the fast-track. At first Serena wasn’t going to tell Shun, she was going to see if she could apply for emancipation, but when she was in the hospital being looked over by nurses and hearing whispers about what a poor abused child she was, Serena just needed her girlfriend. And of course, once Ruri saw the state she was in, she called her brother and asked him to adopt Serena.

While the adoption didn’t happen (that would have taken much longer), Shun does have legal standing over Serena until she turns eighteen, and he swears that he’s going to support her even beyond that. When he and Ruri took Serena home from the hospital, they showed her a room down the hall from Ruri’s.

“We’ve had this prepared for a while now,” Ruri told Serena, “Just in case.”

And they showed Serena a furnished room, painted a pretty lavender color. A banner reading ‘Welcome home, Serena’ hung over the window.

“I knew you’d be coming here after you turned eighteen,” Ruri explained, “But I wanted to be ready. And I wanted you to have your own space here.”

Serena fell on her knees and sobbed. Shun and Ruri had been her family the entire time, and she felt silly for holding herself back from them.

A month after moving in with the Kurosaki’s, Serena has settled in. She and Ruri sleep in separate rooms, go to school and study together, and when Shun gets home they all cook dinner together. They tour colleges on Saturdays, and on Sunday the three of them go to church—the church that Serena ended up in the night she got kicked out.

It’s been an experience, going someplace where Serena doesn’t feel like Jesus is being forced on her, where people show up in jeans and boots instead of silk and pearls. People from all backgrounds, genders, and orientations attend this church, and the sermons are about loving what makes everyone individual. Serena doesn’t go up for communion, because she still feels like she lacks faith, but no one looks at her as a heathen for it. Pastor John gave Serena his phone number that night in the hospital, and she still has it in her phone. Maybe someday she’ll take him up on the offer to call any time with faith-related questions, or any other questions. For now, Serena’s taking her journey back into faith one step at a time. And this time she’s being honest about it, both with herself and the people around her.

“I really like this place,” Ruri says as they walk back to the car after church.

Serena nods. “I do, too.”

Ruri holds out her hand, and Serena takes it. “And I’m really glad we get to go together.”

Serena grins and leans over to kiss Ruri’s cheek. “So am I.”

 

_Amen. Amen. Amen._


End file.
